Although prices of electronic apparatus are falling, an increasing number of everyday items are being designed with in-built microprocessors, and with smaller and smaller sizes. As a result, the range and quantity of goods taken during a typical burglary have an increasing value. The need to protect devices from theft by rendering them inactive after being stolen has been widely recognised.
One common example of this is the face-off in-car music system, in which the front panel is removed from the car to render the remainder of the system inoperative to a thief.
This of course adds significantly to the cost of the product and is inconvenient to the user.
The invention relates to devices with an anti theft design, and which can be implemented with low cost and with low inconvenience to the user.